In the afternoon, while Ryou was eating lunch, he received a phone call from Glenn. Upon learning what the young man had called for, Ryou was momentarily amazed.
"Ryou-kun, the old lady's awake," Glenn revealed calmly, and the street noise and stomping of dozens of people could be heard in his background. "It's fine to go in and see her."
Turning off his phone, the young man hurriedly began to finish his lunch. Following, getting up from his chair, the boy ran to his room to quickly get dressed in city clothes. His older sister, who saw his hurry from the bar counter, was genuinely happy for him and understood without further ado what was the matter. Today was her day off. Ryou came out of the apartment and thanked her for the food and urged her to do the dishes for him today.
After a while, Ryou took the bus to the central district and hurriedly entered the city hospital. After asking the dispatcher in the lobby for the room where Mei-san was resting, he climbed the stairs to the third floor. Finally the young man found her room number, and panting in front of the door, he fixed his hair.
Slowly pulling the doorknob, he stepped into the bright, modest room and the first thing he looked at was the grandmother lying on the bed, smiling at the young man's arrival, and a young woman sitting beside her, holding her grandmother's hand. When he looked at the window, whose curtains were fluttering nonstop due to a strong draft, the young man saw Glenn, standing rankly at the window with his eyes closed and a sincere smile on his face.
When Glenn opened his eyes, from his peaceful look Ryou detected a positive final outcome. One look from Glenn was enough for Ryou to be comforted, and the young man noticed how his opinion of Glenn had risen in recent days.
The old lady, already recovered from a good night's rest, thanked the two schoolboys, adding that she would not have made it if not for their presence around her.
"By my foolishness I made the worst mistake," the grandmother recalled comfortingly. "All the last few years my physical condition had been deteriorating and I felt helpless. The week before my beloved niece arrived…" she said, looking back at a humble woman of Ryou's sister's age, "...I decided to sign a form for a nursing application. A man came to my house and asked me to sign some documents. Next, you showed up. I'm grateful to you, but inside I couldn't stand my patheticness."
"You're not pathetic at all," Ryou stated confidently. "I completely understand what it is like to feel powerless. But you are not powerless at all! You have a strong spirit in you... a will, and an ambition. For that I respect you, Mei-san, for not giving up."
"I wanted no one to worry about me," the old lady said sadly, admiring the young man's words. "Thank you."
Her niece gave the young lads a polite and flattered look of gratitude, to which the boys bowed their heads respectfully. Afterward, the conclusion passed from the grandmother's lips that the schoolboys' work had ended successfully on this note. Soon, after her discharge, she and her niece should go away from the city, where the old lady would be much more at ease.
Next to the bed in the corner was a wheelchair, from which an excited Ryou could not take her eyes off.
"Don't worry," the old lady reassured the schoolchildren with a sweet tone. "I'll be fine."
***
Walking down the hospital corridor toward the stairs and then toward the exit, the boys simultaneously talked about the passing of their time, at a synchronized walking pace. The gulf between Glenn and Ryou seemed to shrink, if not disappear altogether, if one listened to Ryou's more open tone when talking to his friend.
"Our first work together is over, but not without consequences. Still, thank you, Ryou-kun, for your help. The money will be split and sent to us immediately, after the case is officially closed."
"Come on, I didn't do anything. It's always like that: you seem to try your best, but it turns out you only did one-quarter of the work. Fools like me have a gift like that."
Glenn chuckled back, not taking his eyes off the humble young man. Glenn was slightly taller than Ryou in height, though if they were one of the longest in the school.
"About the reward. A separate amount of money is given for group work from single work, but it all depends as much on the keeper's classification."
"I don't know," replied Ryou, coming down the stairs, "I'm not interested. At least you didn't tell us we might encounter such difficulties."
"Eh, that's the kind of job we have," Glenn said, looking back with a smile at the portraits and signs hanging on the walls. Before he realized it, he and his friend had reached the front doors. At the front Ryou stopped, and Glenn followed.
"I'm… thinking of staying on the job," the young man added without turning to face Glenn. "I have a few more questions I have to search for answers to. This job will help me in that, for through it I have learned some things that were not my own. The feelings I've experienced during this time… I didn't know people could be so sensitive."
Ryou wanted to hide the emotional wavering in his face from Glenn, and he didn't dare turn to face him. Inside himself, he shook, biting his lips time after time.
Glenn looked at him with a kind grin, and inwardly thought he was right about Ryou's true feelings and outlook, so he concluded that he would help Ryou with his ailment.
"Do you know what I thereby realized?" said Ryou surreptitiously, and slowly turned around. "People need help," he added slowly, with a confident tone.